Investment · Video games
Sony puts another $200 million into Epic Games
- Investor
- Sony Group (Tokyo)
- In
- Epic Games, Cary, North Carolina
- Value
- $200M
- Status
- Completed. Sony invested another $1 billion in 2022.
- Date
- 2021-04-13
Sony Group invested $200 million in Epic Games as part of a $1 billion funding round that valued the Fortnite maker at $28.7 billion. Other investors in the round included Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Fidelity, GIC, KKR and Franklin Templeton. Epic said it would use the money to build its vision of the metaverse, connected online worlds where people play and socialize.
Why it matters
Sony's second investment in Epic in nine months. The value of Epic had risen by about $11 billion since Sony's 2020 stake, and the tie deepened Sony's access to Unreal Engine for games, film and virtual production.
The round
The round also drew Appaloosa, T. Rowe Price, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Park West, AllianceBernstein, Altimeter and Luxor Capital. Founder Tim Sweeney said the money would speed up work on connected social experiences in Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys, and on tools for creators such as Unreal Engine and the Epic Games Store.
What Sony said
Sony chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida said Epic's technology supports creators in games and across digital entertainment, and that a closer tie fit Sony's purpose to "fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology."
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
